Kathy Hager
Welcome, and thank you for looking at my mental health provider profile. I hope we are able to work together in counseling to help you through a difficult time and improve the quality of your life. My education and experience include bachelors (Idaho State University} and master's degrees (University of British Columbia) in Social Work. I am clinically licensed in Washington and Idaho states. My background is in physical and mental health with internships in Hospice, and inpatient psychiatric hospital for severely mentally ill, and in end-of-life AIDS care. My employment has included hospital social work, emergency department social work, mental health and suicide assessments and safety planning including hospitalization, if necessary, trauma (physical and emotional), and grief and end-of-life counseling. I also did several years of private mental health practice with individuals, couples and children. Most recently I worked with high-risk adolescent youth who failed foster care and were placed by the State in residential care. I am unmarried with very close children and grandchildren. I have 3 dogs and a couple of mice-cats, and chickens for their eggs. I grew up in a military (US Marine Corp) family in California and on the east coast, eventually settling back in California. I left California for college and university then settled in rural Washington State. I enjoy the company and consultation of my sisters who are a clinical social worker and a registered nurse. I enjoy home improvement projects, training my dogs, attempts at vegetable gardening with limited success, family gatherings playing with grandchildren and grand nieces and nephews, exploring historical and cultural connections from the Appalachian Mountains, and reading books and watching movies, especially historical fiction. One of my favorite things that sustain my emotional well-being is to laugh and have fun with the people I love.
First session
At our first session I would love to get to know you and the primary need you have for counseling. I consider individuals as part of a larger environmental system so your family, culture, spiritual belief systems, your community, your education and work experience, things you love, things you dislike (or really hate), and experiences that make you who you are that are unique and important in the work we will do together. I will ask you to describe your overall health, stressors, current crisis and how you cope or not, thoughts of self-harm and suicidal ideation if any, depressive symptoms, any disruption in your thoughts, and how you are eating and sleeping. I will be sure to give you the opportunity for any unanswered questions about me to ensure that I am a good fit for you. We will talk about a plan of care that will include clinical approaches (see my 'specialties and methods" section in this profile, frequency of visits, and counseling experiences you have had with other therapists - what has been helpful and what has not, and what you want to achieve in your time with me.
Strengths
I have been a licensed clinical social worker for many years which has given me the opportunity to understand emotional and mental health stressors that contribute to unwellness. I have the education, skill and experience to assess and help with adjusting to chronic illness or disability and helping individuals develop coping strategies for behavioral and emotional disorders. My licenses in Washington and Idaho require me to complete 36 hours of continuing education every 2 years to maintain my licenses. I have rigorous training in diagnosing mental health disorders and delivering therapeutic interventions that includes Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Emotional Freedom Therapy (tapping), Guided Imagery, and Trauma Informed Care. I continue to explore and train in a variety of other methods of clinical counseling to better help my clients.
Ideal clients
You may need help managing your diagnosed mental health condition, managing major life transitions, or coping with grief and trauma. You may be seeking therapy to find relief when your coping mechanisms have been unsuccessful, and you are overwhelmed with anxiety and/or depression that is distressing or impairing your daily living. You might also be struggling with life transitions like family or career changes, a move, divorce or break up, or grief and loss. Relationships might be causing you conflict and you could use some conversation and skills to better understand yourself and the important people around you.
Treatment methods
Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP)
It is not unusual for people to have thoughts of killing themselves. Those thoughts and feelings can be due to mental health problems like severe depression, bipolar disorder, environmental or personal stressors, and overwhelming feelings of hopelessness, pain, and despair. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) can be helpful to manage suicidal thoughts and feelings and give you ideas and tools to develop a suicide safety plan like a list of coping strategies and where to go or who to call if you are in crisis. It can help you develop your support system and better understand some of those challenging and negative thoughts when you believe that there is no way out other than suicide. It can also help you tolerate and better manage your emotional distress so you don't resort to suicide, as well as recognizing triggers that might result in those feelings of suicide and how to avoid and/or cope with them and live a safe and happier life.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help you understand how your thoughts and responses from your body can keep you in a cycle of despair with seemingly no way out. As you develop skills and strategies to understand your thoughts, interrupt them, then shift your perspective to better manage the behavior and reactions from your body, you can then slow your thoughts and feelings down, understand and change the way you think about things that are bothering you, practice skill sets, and subsequently better manage the feelings and your body's responses. Guided imagery, emotional freedom therapy (tapping), and breathing exercises in CBT are some ways to better calm and manage your thoughts and feelings and your emotional responses and feel better.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
The main goal of DBT is to help you learn how to live in the moment, cope healthily with stress, regulate emotions, and improve relationships with others. I am trained and certified in DBT.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
EFT Emotionally Freedom Therapy (there is not a drop-down for this, but this treatment method is one of my favorites) is not to be confused with Emotionally Focused Therapy. Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT), also known as "tapping," is a mind-body practice that combines elements of exposure and cognitive therapy with somatic acupressure. It involves using your fingertips to gently tap on specific meridian points on the face and upper body while focusing on an emotional or physical issue. I am trained and certified in EFT.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
White
Woman
Top specialties
Anxiety
Depression
Trauma and PTSD
Other specialties
Coping Skills
Crisis Intervention
First Responders/Healthcare Workers
Grief
Health/Medical Issues
Life Transitions
Self-Harming
Suicidal Ideation
Serves
Adults (18 to 64)
Couples Counseling
Elders (65 and above)
Individual Therapy
Man
Teenagers (13 to 17)
Transgender
Woman
Doesn't specialize in
Eating Disorders
Sex Addiction
Licensed in
IdahoLicense LCSW-45180
WashingtonLicense SWI.LW.00006350